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Gabriel Ingram is running from his past. It’s common knowledge at the college where he teaches that he’s a former CIA technical analyst, but no one knows the things he really did—or about the rage and bloodlust that are his constant companions. He’s holding on to his normal life with both hands, but he knows someday he’ll lose his grip.

Lucas Craig is a social worker studying to become a family therapist. For reasons Lucas can’t understand, the normally reclusive Professor Ingram takes an interest in him, and Lucas secretly hopes their friendship might become more.

Then Eric, Lucas’s roommate, disappears. Lucas is frantic. The police are no help. With nowhere else to turn, Lucas begs Gabriel for his expertise.

What starts as a simple errand to help a friend becomes a journey into a violent world of gangs and human trafficking—one that will bring Gabriel face-to-face with the forces intent on stealing his soul. But Lucas might be the one who can save him—if Gabriel can get them out alive.

Gabriel

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Was not what i was expecting. Was expecting a series more like JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood, and it's not, but don't think as it's not like that fabulous series, it's not good, because it is.
Gabriel has lived many lives, thanks to the pact he made with Moriel a wizard to become one of his Black Knights. To live, to kill, to die and to start the process all over again. The catch they must pardon the one enemy they first killed when they became a black knight and the cycle will be broken, however they have no knowledge of this detail until the end of every life, to know they had killed the one again, and the knowledge they just learnt will not go with them into the next life.
Gabriel is now a professor having given up working for the CIA. A student at the uni has come to him as his friend has disappeared and was wanting his help to find his friend as the police were not listening. Lucas is Gabriel's one, the one he must pardon.
Enjoyable, well written. Recommend this multi authored series.

* I received an ARC through Love Bytes/Same Sex Romance Reviews for a fair and honest review.

By Tammy Smith on Feb 14, 2018 07:02

EVERY CENTURY has seen its knights. But there are those who are never seen. They do what must be done, what has to be done— when nobody wants to get their hands dirty. They are called the Black Knights. First created in the 1100s by the wizard Moriel, these men seem cold and hard, and it is said that some have no soul. But for each knight, there is one who can bring out the man who waits inside. The question is whether he will kill the individual before he figures it out.
Through the ages, they’ve conquered and ruled and taken what they wanted. And they have adapted to modern times. Instead of being bullies for hire, they have taken their skills further— the Internet, the CIA, government infiltration, hacking, special ops, assassination, but each one of them has a need they don’t understand— to squash, kill, or destroy.
If the Knight pardons an enemy, he will no longer be cursed. If not, he will continue to live the same life again and again, and each life will make him harder and more unyielding. And each life will make it less likely that he can be saved.
Gabriel is Professor Ingram and he has what he feels is an unhealthy interest in a graduate student at the college he teaches at. Gabriel has taken to buying Lucas Craig a morning coffee and muffin as he is sure Lucas doesn’t eat anything before arriving for class. Lucas can barely get up most mornings let alone have time for breakfast. Lucas works as a social worker, studies to be a family therapist and is also a volunteer for a suicide hotline. Luckily Lucas’ flatmate Eric has taken to waking him up early so he makes it to college on time, until the morning Eric isn’t there to wake him up!
Eric thought he was hooking up with a gorgeous guy after his shift tending bar at Sparks except when he got there he was kidnapped! Eric woke up from being drugged handcuffed to a bed in a run-down motel. And so, started Eric’s time as a sex-slave.
When Eric hadn’t been home for three days Lucas was beside himself but when he reported, him missing no-one was interested in a missing gay man! Lucas went to Gabriel to ask for his help in locating Eric. Gabriel knows that getting involved in the search for Eric is going to result in him being drawn back into the life of the CIA. To protect Lucas, Gabriel has him move into his house and to his utter surprise while Lucas is near him he calms the rage inside Gabriel.
Gabriel was an unexpected find for me. This is the first story by RK Staunton that I’ve had the pleasure of reading but it will most definitely not be the last. I urge you to get your copy of Gabriel, you really need to find out if the relationship between Lucas and Gabriel lasts. Do they find Eric? Does Gabriel manage to remove the curse from himself?
Have you got your copy yet? No? WHY NOT??

Not My Favorite

By Book Fanatic @Bayou Book Junkie on Apr 25, 2017 08:04

I have been a fan of The Order of the Black Knights series from the very beginning but, unfortunately, this book did not excite me the way the previous books have. I definitely think this is my least favorite.

Moriel again has cursed a young man, in this case, our main character Gabriel, to kill and serve him for all eternity or until he forgives an enemy, something much harder to do than he initially assumed. After many lifetimes of killing, we meet a present day Gabriel, a retired CIA agent turned college professor. While the need to kill is an ever present companion, he has kept it under control.

Lucas is a Social Worker and Grad student. Gabriel shouldn't be interested in him but he can't help it. Seeing the man every morning and bringing him coffee before he races off to class, soon becomes a habit he has no clue how to break.

Lucas can't help his attraction to Gabriel even if the man can come off a bit acrimonious at times. It comes as a very welcome surprise when Gabriel shows him a softer side of himself by buying him coffee each morning. So, when his best friend and roommate, Eric, ends up missing and police seem not to care, Lucas turns to Gabriel for help.

If only they'd have known that this was more than a simple disappearance and that they had just stepped into the dark and dirty world of human-trafficking. Now, Gabriel is once again thrust into his role of killer. It will be down to Lucas to save him from the darkness that consumes him before he loses himself once again.

Unfortunately, I felt like this story moved way too slowly. Even the beginning didn't hold that same excitement the previous stories possessed. Each Knight seemed to have this dangerous and dark feel to them but Gabriel was missing that. I felt like there was such a potential to take Gabriel to some very frightening and intriguing places. There was a lack of true action you'd expect for the theme.

To make matters worse that lack of sexual chemistry was a major let down as well. I wanted Gabriel and Lucas to have that intense buildup and the need that radiates off the page. However, it didn't seem to happen and that was a disappointment. It made the whole story more blah and just okay.

*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*